Though stress isn't a proven trigger of Crohn's flare-ups, people with the condition beg to differ. Find out whether stress management can help ease Crohn's symptoms and improve your overall health.

When stress plagues your emotional health, it can cause physical side effects as well. Although research hasn't proven a link between stress and Crohn's disease, it's common for people with the condition to notice a connection between their Crohn's symptoms and their stress levels.

Stress and Crohn's: The Theory

Studies have attempted to determine a correlation between emotional stress and Crohn's disease, but nothing has yet been proven. "Currently, there is no consensus in the medical literature as to how stress interacts with Crohn's disease," says Mark Lazarev, MD, a gastroenterologist and an assistant professor of medicine at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. "Although it has been found that depression may be linked to relapses of Crohn's disease, stress does not seem to be an independent risk factor for triggering a flare."

In everyday life, however, the matters are different. Many people with the disease notice a strong association between stress and Crohn's — with or without medical studies to back it up.

"In my practice, I've heard many testimonials that a certain stressful event induced a flare," says Dr. Lazarev. "In some cases, patients will have concurrent irritable bowel syndrome, a condition that is characterized by abdominal pain, bloating, diarrhea, or constipation. Stress can exacerbate this condition without inducing a flare of the Crohn's disease."

One possibility that might explain this relationship is that Crohn's disease itself — and the persistent abdominal pain and cramping, diarrhea, loss of appetite, and other symptoms that characterize it — can cause significant emotional stress. It's a chronic condition that affects quality of life, with symptoms that are difficult to cope with. People managing Crohn's may experience stress simply from struggling with the symptoms.

Stress itself also produces a number of physical side effects and health problems that can mimic or worsen existing Crohn's symptoms, including:

Changes in appetite

Changes in weight

Diarrhea or constipation

Abdominal pain

Heartburn

Gas

Nausea

Stress Management, Crohn's Management

You don't always need research results to tell you what works. It's been the experience of many patients that they can find some relief from Crohn's symptoms through simple techniques of stress management.

"The first step in managing stress is to identify the chief sources of stress," says Lazarev. Start by asking yourself questions about what your stress might be related to. For instance, is there some major life event that could be causing stress? Also, consider whether stress might be related to Crohn's disease or its treatment — significant dietary changes, for example, or a troubling side effect of medication. "Only by isolating the source of stress can one hope to try to manage it," says Lazarev. "This, in turn, may help reduce Crohn's-related symptoms."

Targeted techniques that can battle stress and help alleviate related Crohn's symptoms include:

You may find that these techniques help you manage your stress and your Crohn's symptoms, even though the mechanism involved isn't understood. "Clearly, better studies are needed to define the relationship between stress and Crohn's disease," notes Lazarev. Despite existing research, many people with Crohn's disease recognize a relationship between stress and Crohn's symptoms — experts just don't know yet what that relationship is.

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